Identifying trees

As the tree grows it starts the appearance of rings inside the trunk. Counting the rings of a tree gives a fairly accurate measure of a tree’s age. The growth rings show how the weather has changed and affected the tree’s quality of life over the years. The wider the rings the more growth of the tree and the closer it is to ideal weather conditions. The narrow the rings will indicate less growth due to cold weather or drought conditions. The oldest layer of growth is in the center; the…

In Yule celebrations long ago, evergreens were commonly used for rituals and decorations. The trees' steadfastness in the face of bitter cold and dark gave people hope that the sun would indeed come back to warm the earth again. Any...

Dormant Tree Identification Gallery - Photos of Dormant Winter Tree Markers

Most trees can be easily identified by inspecting their leaves, seed pods, flowers, bark, or shape.

Homeschooling mom and engineer with a passion for STEM education.

These pictures and their accompanying text are taken from a beautiful old book on tree identification written by R. ST. Barbe Baker, the self-styled founder of the wonderfully-named The Men of the Trees, an organisation I know nothing about, but wish I had belonged to. The book came out in the 1940s, so all of it is now copyright free. I post this material for those of you who are of a Crafty persuasion (you know who you are;) and anyone else who is interested and would find the information…

What can you learn from a tree's leaves? Discover how leaf shape, edges, patterns, and more can help you identify a tree in the forest.

The main Parts of a Tree are the roots, trunk, branches and twigs, leaves, buds, flowers and fruit. A tree's roots absorb water and nutrients from the soil, store sugar and anchor the tree upright in the ground. All trees have lateral roots that branch into smaller and smaller roots and usually extend horizontally well beyond the branch tips; large trees typically have roots extending 20-40 metres or more from the trunk. The vast majority of the root system is located in the upper 10–30 cm…

Have you ever given much consideration to the various pine trees around you? My children and I have been slowly identifying the deciduous trees in our neighborhood and can now identify a few during the winter by the buds that develop in late summer. But it wasn’t until recently that we set on a quest …

Learning some basic botanical terminology and horticulture will simplify wild and domesticated plant identification, as well as demystifying your herb garden and potential problems. Annual – …